Heart of Ice (16 page)

“What’s wrong?” she asked panic setting in.
What was wrong with her baby? She hoped everything was okay.

“Nothing,” the nurse said.

“Then what is it?” Christina asked
irritated.

“It’s just, there’s two. You’re having
twins.”

Twins.

Her blood rushed in her ears. The world
tilted and her mind went blank. What was she supposed to do with
two babies? She focused on breathing. She had to get out of this
place. It was contagious. She went through the motions with the
nurse grabbed her prescription for her prenatal pills and attempted
to flee.

“Wait a minute dear. We need to do a
transvaginal ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy.”

“Huh? What did you just do?”

“The first ultrasound is usually done at six
weeks to see if there’s anything in the uterus. Now here, I need
you to insert this into your vagina.”

Christina looked on in horror as the woman
handed her a probe that looked like a dildo covered in a gel and
condom. You have got to be fucking kidding.

***

Somehow, she felt violated while leaving the
nurses office. The nurse explained to her that the probe was used
to project sound waves that reflected off the body structure. The
computer used the sound waves to form an image. She just wanted the
thing out of her. The only reprieve she got was that the whole
thing didn’t have to be inserted into her. Thank god.

Walking into work she felt like shit. Things
could never be simple with her. She had to go out and get pregnant
with twins. Gah. Matt was going to kill her. She smiled her fake
smile and shuffled to her office. She couldn’t wait to be behind
closed doors focused on her work.

“Hello dear,” Charles said as she entered
the room.

“Hi Charlie,” she said giving him a hug.
Charles petted her on the head. They went over the morning
reporting and books. Everything was in order.

“Dear are you alright,” Charles asked
looking at her with concern in his eyes. She seemed a little
withdrawn and exhausted. He had a good mind to send her home.

“Why don’t you go home dear and get some
rest. I’ll stop by to see you.”

“Okay. Thanks Charlie.” Christina said
giving him the address.

“No problem kiddo.” He smiled.

She was glad to go home. She needed some
girl time with Sarah and wanted to sleep the day away.

***

Matt sat in Collum’s study. They’d been at
it all night trying to get access to her files but they were under
lock and key.

“I don’t know what else to do. If you can’t
then no one can.” Collum said sighing. He would admit that he was
in this for Matt’s sake, but at the same time his curiosity was
killing him. What kind of case was it if Matt couldn’t get access
to it? Hell, he thought money made the world go round. He stood
corrected.

“There is one other person who could help
us,” Collum said.

“No, we don’t want to involve any more
people. I don’t want to deal with him right now.”

“Yea, you just don’t want him to be
disappointed that we’re using our connections to old friends
again.” Collum said.

Matt was right. He met Collum right after he
finally escaped that hell hole. Joined a ruthless team of
mercenaries. It was the man who was on the team and had become like
a father figure to them. Once the team disbanded, he took them in.
Raised them right and Matt decided it was time to take
responsibility and inherited the family fortune. He didn’t want to
go down that path.

“I’ll find out from the source.” Matt said
with fury in his voice.

“Wait a minute Matt. You shouldn’t go in
there angry like that.”

“She’s the murderer. A user. It’s a good
thing you found out about her sordid past.” Collum tried to placate
Matt, but he it didn’t do any good. He was pissed. He hoped he was
wrong about it.

***

Christina sat in the media room with her
phone. She had a bucket of pecan flavored ice cream. Sniffing she
realized that she was going to have to come clean about everything.
She would have a talk with Matt when he gets home. The stress
wasn’t good for the babies. Picking of up the phone she dialed
Sarah.

“Sarah,”

“What’s wrong Chris?”

“I’m scared, I have big news.”

“Oh god, tell me! No wait, I’m on my way
over. I will be there in twenty.” Sarah said disconnecting the
call. She would straighten up. Matt wouldn’t be home for a few
hours. He usually put in long hours at the office. She made mint
water for herself and a tequila sunrise for Sarah. She smiled
running up to the door when she heard it open. Sarah had arrived
sooner than she anticipated. It was then that she noted Matt in the
foyer.

“Hi honey!” she shouted running towards him
with her arms outstretched. She stopped just out of reach when she
didn’t hear him welcome her. Her blood froze. The look in his eyes
was back. It was like looking at the devil.

“Matt what’s wrong,” she asked. She
instinctively flinched away from him. He still hadn’t replied.
Sarah was on her way and Christina didn’t really want her to see
Matt like this.

“I’m sick of the lies! Why don’t you just
come clean about everything” he roared at her. She was so confused.
Had he found out about the pregnancy? She hadn’t told anyone yet,
not even Sarah. She backed away from.

“I was going to tell you Matt, I just found
out today,” she stuttered. She had no idea he would be so furious
with her.

“And you still lie!”

Christina turned away from him; maybe it
wasn’t such a good idea to keep trying to reason with him in the
state that he was in. He was beyond listening at this point. She
screamed when he reached out and grabbed her.

“Let go!” she yelled out. She tried to push
him off. He was going to hurt the babies.

“Not until you tell me the truth!”

“You already know! Why do you need me to say
it!” she screamed at him. He relaxed his grip on her for just a
second, in that moment she broke away from him.

“I’m going to strangle you!” he yelled,
chasing her. Christina raced through the house. She picked up
random objects and tossed them behind her, anything would suffice
if it deterred him. If he didn’t want the babies all he had to do
was say so. He was going through extreme measures, he helped make
them. It took two to tango. Tears flowed freely from her eyes. She
needed to get to the front door.

She ran faster dodging to get to the door.
Where was her phone? She grabbed that off the kitchen counter.

“Let me go or I’ll call the police!” she
shouted.

“Shouldn’t that be my fucking line?!” Matt
was infuriated that she would even threaten him with law
enforcement when she was in the wrong. She just admitted to using
him for power and money. He was going to destroy her! All he saw
was red; he snatched all of that black silky hair and pulled. She
went tumbling to the ground. He smiled in deep satisfaction seeing
her on the ground. He wanted to hurt her as much as she hurt him.
He was surprised when she hit him in the ankle and rolled away. She
grabbed her stomach. He was confused. Why was she grabbing her
stomach?

Christina didn’t know what was going on. She
was running on pure adrenaline. Her babies were at stake. She had
to get away from him. She watched as he took one cautious step
towards her.

“Stay back you bastard! I’ll fucking kill
you!” she snarled. She felt like a wild animal backing away from
him. He moved towards her and she dove for the kitchen and grabbed
a butcher knife. She brandish it around wildly. He’d gone too far.
Fuck this. She didn’t need him. Sarah would be here in the moment
and things would get worse. Sweat poured down her brow and she
panted heavily. She had to calm down. He could keep her shit. She
got her phone and all she needed was her wallet which was in the
glass bowl near the door. She eased away from the kitchen and
towards the door. The penthouse was a mess. There were shattered
objects everywhere, but that was okay. Matt was nothing but a
destroyer. She grabbed her wallet and threw the butcher knife at
him. She sent Sarah a quick text message to cancel. She had to get
to a safe place. He was dangerous. Who would she call? Where would
she go? Christina looked down at her feet and realized that she
didn’t even have shoes on and her hand was bleeding. She dialed the
only person she could think off.

“Charlie?” she sobbed into the phone.

“What’s wrong dear?”

“Come get me,” she cried into the phone. In
that moment Christina received lots of looks odd from people, she
looked wild and there were no shoes on her feet. She didn’t care
she had to get as far as she could away from that man. She walked
aimlessly; her day couldn’t get any worse. She looked up and cried
when the skies became cloudy and a heavy downpour enveloped
her.

***

Now that the fury had settled, Matt fell to
his knees. The one thing that he always feared happened. She left
him. He didn’t know why he cried. He should be happy; she was
planning on marrying him and killing him. She admitted to it. He
was done with women! It didn’t stop him from sinking onto the
floor. How could she betray him like that? He still wanted her. He
was so pathetic. Was it so hard to love someone and expect love in
return? It was in that spot, Collum found him. His heart dropped.
He hadn’t looked this bad, not even when Natalia left. It was okay.
That was what he was here for, to pick up the pieces and to protect
him.

***

Christina was soaked by the time Charles
found her. He pulled up on the side of the road and rushed out of
the car with an umbrella. He enveloped her in his arms. When he
realized she couldn’t walk he closed the umbrella and picked her
up. She was drenched and her clothes were torn. She looked so
displaced as if there was no one there to love and take care of
her. What happened? Placing her in the car on the passenger side,
he turned the heat on high and drove home. He vowed no one would
hurt her anymore. He would let her rest for now.

It was his worst nightmare come true,
Christina calling him like that on the phone. He was so worried
about her. He had to calm his worried wife down before rushing to
get Christina. Damn! She was bleeding. He phoned home.

“Martha, put on some tea for her. She’s
completely soak and wet.”

“Honey calm down,” his wife pleaded with
him. Charles had to remind himself that she was safe. His poor wife
could hear the tremble of rage in his voice. Once he got his hands
on the sorry bastard he was going to kill him.

“Love?”

“I’m fine dear. We’ll be pulling up shortly.
Have the first aid kit ready too.” He disconnected the call before
his poor wife could do any more worrying and bombard him with any
more questions. Pulling up, he grabbed Christina and rushed her
into the house.

Chapter 21

Martha waited anxiously as Charles brought
little Christina in. She gasped as she saw the condition she was
in. He placed her in the guest room. Martha rushed into the room
and shooed Charles away. She began removing the wet clothes off the
girl before placing a nice warm thick gown on her. There wasn’t too
much she could do about her hair right now. She called Charles in
so he could take a look at her hand. She sat holding Christina
other hand while Charles worked.

“It looks like a shallow wound. Not too
bad,” he said. If he didn’t filled the silence he was liable of
going insane trying to figure out who the bastard was that did this
to her. He cleaned additional scrapes that were along her arm. From
the looks of it, she must’ve fell on to some glass. He was relieved
that she was able to get away. He kissed her bandage hand before
leaving the room.

“Come along Martha, she’ll be fine. She’s in
good hands.”

“But,”

“You can spoil her when she wakes.”

They shuffled out of the room leaving
Christina to rest.

***

Her heart pounded in her chest. Her preteen
body moved at an alarming rate. They were adults; she was smart
enough to know that she couldn’t out run them. Her body wasn’t
capable of it. They had more muscle mass, a longer stride and was
just physically stronger at restraining her. Her eyes flitted along
the path. There was no possible escape route. Her brain told her
this but the fear propelled her forward. Was the only escape death?
She smiled again; perhaps these people weren’t as dumb as they
appeared. They herded her into a corner like livestock. Trapped she
watched as the hand reached for her. She closed her eyes and
screamed. When she opened her eyes, she looked into a pair of icy
cold green eyes. Her throat began to close up and her body was
paralyzed with fear. Suddenly her world began to shake. She watched
as the man with the icy eyes fall into the nothingness and she soon
found herself falling. She reached up a hand hoping someone would
come for her. Nothing. Was this the end? She closed her eyes for
her eternal sleep, but voices called out to her. She swam towards
those voices.

Christina startled awake. She felt like crap
and her eyes were cruddy. She turned her head towards the happy
squeal. Martha sat in the chair holding her hand.